Thursday 20 December 2018

POEMS SUBMITTED AT THE LOUDTHOTZ POETRY OPEN READING SEASON 9 EPISODE 12 ANTICIPATE - SEASON FINALE








ANTICIPATE A NIGHT’S JOY
On this day,I weave the tale
Of a day’s pilgrimage;
Of misfits in suits,
With garlands for breakfast,
Hungry dreams yawning at the noon’s
dawn,
Their truncheons, scars of pride,
With shoes that have greeted king’s courts,
Their solemn gentility, a wonderful blight
Of passage,
They anticipate the elixir of their broken arrows,
They anticipate the Argonaut’s fleece,
They anticipate a myriad of Hercules’s trials,
Atlas would envy their meanderings,
These miscreants with haughty antonyms,
Will regale you with their Nile’s plight,
They weave Judas fingers in their Golgotha’s mane,
And plead mother Teresa’s platitudes
For a whiff of bread,
They anticipate in this eon,
A bygone dying future’s tears,
When a misfit reigned in a tyrant’s cubicle,
Serenaded by nature’s false breath,
This is my tale,
But only the coward
Will survive in this absurd theater
Of anticipation,
Where Eros’ epistle to fate,
denies a benign ending.
Yet,life must continue.
With its untamed treason,
When we finally anticipate the Night’s joy.
TEDDY UGONNA RICHARD
//////////////////////////////////
HOPE ON THE HORIZON

The cloudy sky roars in silent
The pregnant dawn, dusk a still-born
But still a born

The bed I lay with a burdened heart
For I toiled
All day
All night
And caught a drought
But still a catch

Morrow I rise with weaken toes
To dare the Lagos bees but with a leap

By noon, I bid the storehouse
For more hands
For I caught a draught
With whispers of sweat on the horizon.

-AMAMI H.
////////////////////
WAITING
Awakening to this harmattan breeze
My heart froze
At the gloom that hung above the city
Mixed with the early morning sun
To say it is pollution of sorts remains to be proven
Sooty smoke enveloping every where
A few folks elope in fear of an impending doom
Us
We wait
Hanging on to the strands of hope left in us
Babatunde advocated the planting of trees then
Only but a few took the matter to heart
Others said trees would not feed them
So they turned the other ear
Here I am
One of them I must been
Was I?
Do you know of the one
Who is currently saying our city has been bastardized?
Restructure he prays
How he will do it
Without a structure we wonder
The feeding pattern has been 101 for most
A bigger lot on 001
A rare few, are on 0-0-0
Looking for something to prey on
With prayers
Our wastes are reducing
For quite an age this has been
We lament and blame
We wait
We wait on hope
Baba is so weak
Yet, he is walking us to green lands
Even as many are lagoon bound
In search of greener pastures
I wonder
If those pastures are green anymore
Yes, the roads are clean
The power is constant
That there is security
I will say, I doubt
The idea of slavery is one I dread
So I take to pen to paper
And pour my mind
I wait on oguro and push my thoughts to friends
Assuring myself that the wait will pay
Time is flying
Age is running
I think it is paying
The lands are getting green
How green it will get
I wait to know.

ILUPEJU ADEBAYO
/////////////////////////////////////////

EMELDA
Emelda's  positive vibe
Is contagiously high
She believes in building castles in the sky
She can cover yam and expect it to ripen
Like a camel expecting the eye of a needle to widen
Emelda's thoughts run their own course
For every disappointment she has a new horse
Her anticipations
Stand on different foundations
Her hope is immune
To negative tunes
Her hope is immortal
Wired to an infinite number of portals
Emelda sees the good side of everything
She can explain why a bee should sting
Why a loved one must die
Even why our Eagles must lie
Walahi
You can't beat her level of vibration
Her brain cells form an unknown constellation
Is she in denial?
Will she one day switch dials?
I hope not
It'll be hard to see Emelda tied up in knots
Let her continue to spread her positive energy
Like a Hope filled dispensary
We need her positivity
To drown out the rampant negativity
We need more hope
To level the depressional slope
Emelda is a case
But she's in a good place
Running her own race
With a smile on her face
Ready to dance in the rain
Its a bit hard to explain
The picture will be complete
If one day you meet
Emelda!


ERHIO OBODO
////////////////////////////////////
THE SUN NEVER RISES

The breath of living fire
The life elixir of its neighbours
Whose warm embrace envelops
Never rises
Your warm cheerful countenance
Is ever too bright to look upon constantly
No wonder your neighbours
Dance around you and warm their cold bodies
Because of you there is life
We eat a part of your essence in every bite
Now we laugh when we remember
That wise men once said our home away from home was flat
In the future we will laugh harder
When we remember
That this elixir giving orb
That our home dances around to stay alive
Rises and sets for us
On this journey of self discovery
We will discover our place
In the constellation of real life
Like the sun
Life will always be fair
It depends on us how we fare
IFEANYI OKWOSHA
////////////////////////////
THIS IS WHAT I WROTE WHEN I MEDITATED ON LEAVING.

metaphors are beautiful things.
metaphors are beautiful, dangerous things.
metaphors are beautiful, dangerous, deceitful things.

it thrilled you when they said your love was the sun:
shy at first, soft, then fierce, a showpiece, an exhibition.
but you know suns don't only rise, right?
they set, too.
and burn.
moral lesson: *shrugs*

we broke the same way we came together:
in slices, like the moon.

and our coming together... ayiii...

you fell for a girl who once loved a sailor, then lost her heart to the sea;
i loved a man who cried.
you fell for a girl who was the shape of water;
i loved a man who thought he knew how to hold sand.
you fell for a girl who was in pieces and fragments;
i loved a man who loved brokenness a little too much.
you fell for a girl who was a towering edifice with a foundation of sand;
i loved a man who desired to be God: grind my broken pieces to dust and remold me in his own image.

this is how you fall in love:
digital forehead kisses and long electronic hugs;
conversations after 10pm till after 1am about what God smells like:
a freshly bathed baby,
freshly cut grass in rainy season.
this is how you come undone:
one lover leaves without a word;
another calls to politely inform you that they have chosen another.
you had hoped...
this is how you move on:
first, you have to decide:
do you want to live without them,
or would you rather die?
if you decide to live, darling,
begin by folding yourself into yourself so you can see everything, feel everything, remember everything.

and remember, honey,
closed doors are not always locked.
closure is overrated.
civility is not.
i can be civil.
nice. polite. smile. send smile emojis.
even though i want to scream and break things and drink myself blind and weep and remember and rinse and repeat.
'be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess'.
forgive me, father,
for i have sinned.
for my pain, i drink wine in excess and break bread till it's in useless crumbs.
i lie in bed, trying to write myself into amnesia to forget someone who shouldn't have come at all.

i broke into a song of lamentation when my lovers said 'I love you'.
I think everybody is beach sand
so i love by letting go,
by holding on as lightly as possible.
for those who hold on to me, i'm thankful.

leaving makes you shrink,
that's why i wrote this meditation in only small letters.
it reminds you that you are also soft,
breakable.
now, leaving is not always a bad thing,
but it is almost always painful.
and you think you're fine,
but a word, a laugh, a question, a colour flings you back into memories buried just beneath your tongue,
memories lining the walls of your oesophagus.
in those moments, probe your pain,
investigate your heart.
in those moments,
cup your own cheeks,
caress the back of your own neck,
lay your own hands on your own forehead,
bless yourself.
look in the mirror.
take note of the sparkle in your eyes,
a reminder that you are everything bright from within
and the darkness did not consume you after all.
JOY CHIME
/////////////////////////////
FOKANSI
Having an uneasy rest on the ancient long Aganrandi
Carved from a century old king of the forest, Iroko oluwere
Its brown scaly and shiny mass narrates a tale of forbearance
The hinges are symbols of tolerance
Waiting in hope for the fruition of promises made.

Every squeak in its silent glide resonates the symphonic cacophony of an age long dirge
The same that was rendered as an elegy in an endless past.

Wo, wa gbo itan mi!
Come and hear my story
It is the story of a great people
Full of life and Love, hope and Happiness
Itan igbe aye rere ni
Yes, it was a story of good life.

In the rising cloud of dust they rode in
Creating a smokescreen that was passed on to us by our fathers
Arriving in a horse-cade of Appaloosa, Clydesdale, Akhal-Teke
The most priced Arabian and Andalusian horses they possessed
Clothed away in their regal wears were the details of their skin, but their PRIDE exposed
Beeni, otito ni, Ola ni won fi b’oju
Iyi ni won fi se ewu wo.

Swathed in their affluent attires with their faces dodged from the rays of the sun
They greeted and paid obeisance at the feet of our fathers, yes, babanla baba wa
Yet, their palm lines were alien to them
Their faces were ducked away from the daylight
But their phallic glory became the hawkers’ ditty
They swore by their identity, their children, their faces and wealth…uhmmmm
All of these were unknown to our fathers.

In galant strides they return in seasons with much wealth and strength,
Telling the tales of hope our fathers heard,
Hoping for the hopes of the years gone.

O ma se o!
Listen to my wisdom
Listen to the words of the ancient
Listen to my squeak
Eni ti yio fun ni lewu wo, t’orun re laawo
When you are promised a clad of Royal Regalia by one whose palms can barely cover his manhood
Anticipate, but look away in opposite direction.

Anti Shipe, please open the barricade and let me go.

TUNJI RALPHAEL
////////////////////////////

ANTICIPATE
Who else will suffer us?
Is it not the devourers of death?
The one who comes dark clothing’s
Just to entice us with bad conflicts
There to behold our innermost joy
Without a gift to inherit from

Who else will blame us?
Is it not mortal men of threats?
The one who has no shame in them
Only for the worldly gain and
For the benefit of their exhibition
Without a promise of prevention

Who else will afflict us?
Is it not witches of calamities?
The one who comes from a dark coven
Just in our world of uncertainties
There to fulfill the scripture of love
Without a fervent commitment

Who else will curse us?
Is not our wicked ancestors?
The one who promised us heaven on earth
Professing the integrity of inheritance
To the best in line of prosperity
There to cover the shame of debt
Without leaving a footstool

Who else will frustrate us?
Is not the wicked government
The one who comes with empty promises
Giving us an entitlement of no goodness
To enslave us with unwanted suffering
There to capture your ignorance
Without helping our situation
Anticipate your vote now
UBONGABASI EKPO
///////////////////////////////////
AUNT T’S PLACE

Aunties place is where I go to escape my realities
Meditating in her serendipity
She told me anything is possible
She would say
Child only the dead would say Life isn’t beautiful
Time is beautiful

She told me if I cross my eyes I’d have more Ts
Whatever than means
That Rainbows can have shadows
If I dream with all my hearts
That a moth can become a butterfly if it believes
And God speaks in the soft gentle breeze

Listen
Be patient, don’t be a six legged fawn
Do not dance to the tune of the storm
She will wear you out like odi the donkey
Anticipate tomorrow’s move but use today wisely
Don’t be eager to sacrifice your queen
Stalemate happens when kings get lonely
Time is a gift, trade her well

Aunty T has taught me many lessons
I am reminded of them when her second-hand clock
Strikes twelve
And like Peter after the third crowing cock
I come to my senses.
Inspired to express, express expressions
Time is the best teacher
Time is a healer

Is it my time yet?

OLAMIDE ‘LARIOSTYLZ’ SANTOS
///////////////////////////////
THE MOUNT OF EVEREST

I stood upon the craggy top of the Everest
Smiling rainbow from the mount
Beneath the rays of the golden sun
Light lines between the trees and flowers
Where birds speak to each other in rhythm..

Looking to the skies from this top
I sing in coaxing diminuendo of the piano
Voices filled with satisfaction
To which noble heart aspires..

Reaching for the heavens
A million sparkling stars
Which was written in the colours of love
I found them yesterday
On the top of the Everest
I gasped as the splendor held my gaze..

The heart throbbing between the upland and the peak
I staked to win the soul of love on the mountain top
I will pitch my tent in the heart of love this very moment
On the craggy top of the Everest
Thoughts of love still haunt my soul
From the far away world beyond
I will live
I will live again for love...

SAMMIE JEFFREY

////////////////////////////////////////

ON DELVING INTO THE TREASURY TO DIG UP THE MEANING OF ANTICIPATE!

Probable
To expect or predict

Anticipating scorn on her return to wherever she began from.

Foresee
Predict
Even think, as hard as that is for many, if not most people.

Likely
Forecast
Prophesy
Foretell
Contemplate and anticipate the nuclear option in the face of anticipated failure

The police did not anticipate any trouble.
They never do
That is why they are firemen rather than policemen
Taking a kneejerk fire brigade approach to all our challenges

Anticipating theories on mimicry and all sorts of protective colorations
Foreshadow
Precede
Antedate

Writing plays for all women casts to anticipate the cinematic work of these random characters we are referencing in order to garnish the 'A' word.

Anticipate- imagine or expect that something will happen
Refusing as a matter of psychological astuteness to anticipate or acknowledge trouble

The dog anticipates though lacking the human vocabulary to enunciate
Anticipates the bone to suck, the next walk to stretch and the squirrel to chase.

Anticipate by previewing yourself; showing a less than omniscient prescience; predefining your course and your cause!

To live in the living hope that the thing you live and hope for will happen for you; to you in the way in which you hoped for it
That is to anticipate!

To start with the end in mind
To count your alpha and beta's
Taking care of the in- betweens
and the b to y's that indeed is to anticipate

To participate in grand, exalted discourse about a truly universal order devoid of corruption and failure is to anticipate and partake in the frustration of confusion.

Deferred hope leads to heart failure
Anticipated success gives hope of preferment
As is written for us in the volume of the books of remembrance

To anticipate is to remember, restate and rephrase
It is to live in the good and totally sanitize the bad that might have been spoken about us!
ANDREW WHYTE
//////////////////////////////////////
THE TORTOISE'S MIGRATION
The journey or a thousand miles dear friend begins with a step
But to leave footprints on the sands of time you must have taken more steps than one
At a point You must have run
Slowed down to a crawl
Thought more times than once about circling back to the starting point
Doubted yourself to the extent that you put a magnifying glass over your head under the glare of the sun
And watch your emotions burn

On this journey of self discovery
You would've become a desert
A naked wilderness
Lost and all alone
Your Will to live all but gone
And yet you'd decide to walk some more

in this desert of your self
Dark clouds would hang over your eyes
while you hope that The heavens pour
As you battle to quench the thirst of your soul.

You'd need to have your eyes trained like wise men upon that star
But soon you'd meet Samaritans on the way
And if you just know to still your heart and listen
You'd feel the spirit sway
And On those dark days the moon will glow a little brighter
On bleak nights, the sun with burn a little lighter


Just remember dear friend
That this journey is measured with a broken ruler
The end seems a million miles away
While turning back feels like a millimeter.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step my dear friend
But it will never ever end there.

OGBE MISAN
////////////////////////////////////

HOME IN THE MOON

You made yourself a bird
on a rope
built your home
in the moon
Laid the bricks
in the sun
and soothe the galaxy
to furnish it.

You claim the moon
bows to your sun
but the night
swallows your shine

You said, why play the child in gods robe?
you got a resounding silence
so deafening, the bricks could hear

Do you expect a bird in a place
when it is not caged?
Do not ask a toad for a chair
as he himself squats.

CHRIS N. JOHN
//////////////////////////////////
RANDOM PATTERNS (A Poem of Poems)
1.
The word was Risen,
But we were free-falling,
From the face of the earth to the depths of the skies.
We were like the angels, banished
From dungeons in heaven to throne rooms on earth
So they said that we were fallen,
But the ground on which we landed was the clouds
And then we learnt to ignore their definitions; the word was “Risen”.


2.
The word was Good,
But we were perverted
In the jurisdiction of their opinions, and jurisprudence of their prejudices.
We were like the prince of Egypt, exiled
For striking down imperial guards of the status quo
So they branded us criminals,
But the ground on which we stood was called holy
And then we learnt to stop wearing their name-tags; the word was “Good”.


3.
The word was a Sigh,
But we were flanked by eulogies
Composed to their standards of success by the ingenuity of sycophancy.
We were like Usain Bolt, preceding
Round and round in a race unmarked by a finish line
So they famed us as medalists,
But we never saw our true face in the glints of their accolades
And then we ceased dancing to their looney tunes; the word was a “Sigh”.


4.
The word was Survivor
But we were buried alive
In cenotaphs of stigmatization by false autopsies of victimization.
We were like Edison in a dark room
Presently sorting out dead ends in the labyrinth of contrivance
So they publicized our failures,
But we were an enigma to their journalists
And then we decided to outlive our epitaphs; the word was “Survivor”.


5.
What's the word? Rethink
Hasn't the black race been for so long retarded?
By the short leash of the dogMa and the puppet-strings of her Majesty?
We were like the elephant, never forgetting
The limits we were doomed to, by chains past broken
So they penned us as neo-colonies
But we've just begun losing our senses
And then we shattered the lenses of the telescope of worldview; the word was “Rethink”.


6.
The word was Living
But we were wasting away
Behind the tombstone of their appraisals and the stench gas of their impossibilities.
We were like terminal cases without life-support
Because we didn't know their modes of operations and lacked their certifications
So they drafted our obituaries,
But we discovered there is more to the temperature of life than college degrees
And then we started bursting loose from the wrappings of their gravecloths; the word is “Living”.


7.
The word is Joy
But in the arena of unhappiness, battling odd happenings
Our helmet was not the smiling emoji.
We were as a day without sunrise, gloomy
Yet breaking without need of a cockcrow or a dawning from the east-side
So they tagged us as depressed ones
But a joy that wasn't sourced by dawn couldn't be snuffed by twilight
And then we stopped equating our Selves to our Circumstances; the word is “Joy”.


8.
The word is Order
But the entropy of our cosmos appears to be ever increasing
According to the hypothesis of Physics and its second law of Thermodynamics.
Our world is soon without form;
And void, we hover amidst the raging storms
So they accused us of clumsiness
But we were just at the threshold of rebirthing paradise from nothingness
And then our travail ended with one final scream; the word is “Order”.


9.
The word is Deep
But we were drowning in illusions
By the judgement of their psychology and the reality in their perceptions.
We are voyagers at the brink of possibilities
Jumping out into the sea of things foreign to the hearts of men
So they said that we were losing it
But yes! We were loosening the blindfolds of conventional reasoning
And then we broke out of the asylum of their opinion polls; the word is “Deep”.


10.
The word is Blaze
But we were going down
Down in a blaze of glory, but “down” being their focal point.
We were like shooting stars
They ignored our brightness to make mockery of our descension
So they scandalized our downfall
But we won't stop shining because they desire comfort in the darkness of ignorance
And then we erupted from the volcano of their defamation; the word is “Blaze”.


11.
The word is Fare
But we are illegal commuters
On a journey of self-discovery, against the one-way of their bandwagon.
We are like cloud-bound fishes
Swimming upward in the evaporating sea
So they conspired against our rebellion to gravity
But the truth can never be held down by the baits on their fictitious hooks
And then we leaped forth from the precipitation of their conspiracy; the word is “Fare”.


12.
The word is Anticipate
Anticipate the outpouring of our spirit of resilience upon all flesh
The emergence of witnesses validating the genuineness of our dream
Anticipate more fellows, activists & rebels ike Stephen
Undaunted by the throes and stones of martyrdom.
So when persecutors arise by the misguided zeal of world-view
We shall remain nothing but reformers of self-esteem
And then we shall take our own definitions to the ends of the Earth; the word is "Anticipate".

0.
What shall the word(s) be, by next year?
Will we be intimidated, disadvantaged, and hopeless-
When the occurrences of our lives are misinterpreted by defective lenses in their eyes?
Or will we see new sights by the intoxication of new wine in our wineskins?
So when the world attempts the perspective of the omniscient narrator,
Will we create the lines & plots by which our life's stories are to be told?
Will we against all odds choose the exact names & roles by which we wish to be called?
Will we then fill in the gaps by ourselves & with our terms? The word is “...”


@Tolu_NeoDaniel
/////////////////////////////////////
BEAUTIFUL AMAKA 

Beautiful Amaka 
I woke up this morning feeling this ecstasy 
Such that makes you hold your breath 
Against the muscled fart from a pregnant 
Woman ready to birth her Esau & Jacob 
A feeling with rhythmic pattern that
Caresses you into dancing to the tune of 
Arusi Iyi like one of the acolytes in okija 
The type that tastes like the Opioro mango 
At the Junction between Elu & Okagwe 
In God's own state

Beautiful Amaka 
Have I ever told you how alluring you are? 
How the Moon and the Sun crush on you
How the day wants to have you all to itself 
But are you aware of this conspiracy that
The beautiful one that is yet to be born 
Sits on the halved moon in the sky
Envious and petrified at your pulchritude 
Perplexed at the differentness of your 
Curvaceous figure that can trigger traffic 
On Mile 2 Apapa Wharf expressway 
Who can contend with her?
 She sniggered

Beautiful Amaka 
Your smile is enough to send the Sun 6ft
Like David did to Uriah with a letter
That outlived him on the battlefield 
Such smile that makes the clouds slither
Away like the dispersed onward christian
Soldiers who loves to match as to war 
The smile that freezes the moon to a spot
Like Johnbull your first love back in the day 
Who once peed on his frail ego abruptly 
But blames it on your gaze at his erection

Beautiful Amaka 
Are you aware that your charm is cause? 
The other day, I eavesdropped on them
Oh yes I did! 
But with goodly intentions 
Like Mama Nkechi does whenever she's 
Plotting how to plant a discord amongst 
Neighbors who are prone to fist fights 
I heard all they said but didn't bulge not until
My name was mentioned between, then,
The heavens broke lose and lost its weight 
From the downpour hanging on it waist 

Beautiful Amaka 
Surely, they would gather but this by you
They gather like the August women in Mbaisi whose agenda is to chant the 
Praises of the most gorgeous and ridicule
The ones without wings..
The fledgling wannabes 
They sat round the table of your content 
Like Loudthotz poets with deep thoughts 
Deep thoughts that spluttered droplets of
Your worth in their poetry reading 
Ravaging the pores of my skin like the
Nightfall in Soweto that turned a dreaded
Disease 

Beautiful Amaka 
Wouldn't it be a sheer waste of time to 
Build a castle of emotions in your name?
What shall it profit me to gain the whole
World and lose my place with you?
I mean, what shall my fragile heart do
To this campaign after the elections that 
Have been concluded in the other room?
Why do I long for a second with you? 
Such that feels like Heaven on Earth...
Why do I anticipate a forever love quest 
With you when I know it will utterly dissipate

Beautiful Amaka 
Please leave me so I can drown
Myself in my abject thoughts in peace...


Heaven Kelechi Kalu
@Heavenscribbles...
//////////////////////////////////////////
ANTICIPATE

Don’t anticipate because
There is no justice
Only injustice.
Just was.
Just us.

CHISOM